I'll have to write a longer review later tonight, but to keep things brief right now, A+ and one of the best of the year material. Possibly a new classic in the genre, I'll have to let it sink in to decide that. Amazing.

I'm willing to declare Ridley Scott a mangod and I haven't even seen Blade Runner. He's that good.

This probably shouldn't be grouped in as a mob film. For one, Crowe's character is as much the lead as Denzel, this is a cops catching the criminal movie. But also, there's not much mob, it's Frank Lucas at the top and everyone else trying to attach to him, he's one man and that is made very clear.

American Gangster works on numerous levels. It's in part a portrait of late 60s-early 70s Harlem and America, full of drugs and desperation and weakness, where the strong rise above the rest and the cops are dirtier than the rats. As a crime thriller it's entertaining and at 2 hours 37 minutes, never loses interest. But, maybe most surprisingly, it's also a superb character drama and study. Literally every character who steps on screen is compelling, has depth to them, has their motivations, and is tossed into conflict. For example there's a scene early on where Crowe's character Richie and his partner are searching a parked car and find a very large amount of unmarked money in the trunk. Without giving away more, it and the following scenes lead to some surprising moral and character statements by Scott. Richie's morals vs everyone else the temptation of the streets is commonly laid on him throughout the film, and thanks to Crowe's great great performance, it adds a lot to the movie.

Denzel is brilliant here. Frank Lucas, with his collected yet fiery, always powerfly menacing performance is one of the better king bosses I can think of in recent memory. When he's not talking, just the way his face is set, he totally totally gets in this character. The academy would do right to easily give him a nomination this year. I also wanted to add that while the two leads don't get on screen till the last 20 minutes, they have a long extended scene that is pure dynamite and gold. They play off each other perfectly and it's well worth the build-up, and maybe are among the highlights of each performance.

Going through supporting actors, Josh Brolin gives one of the year's most surprising performances as an insufferable and despicable dirty cop. He's so slimy, money-grubbing, and yet intelligent and an equal, he's just cunning. Cuba Gooding, Jr. is decent in his one scene, though it's hampered by being mostly unneeded. Chiwetal Ejifor makes a believable side character though he's not given as much to do, and finally I think Ruby Dee could be a sleeper Best Supporting Actress contender for her role as Mama Lucas. Every other short and thankless role I didn't mention is acted superbly here as well, it's a sign of a great director that they're all so on their game.

Ridley Scott's direction, bril, what can you say. He creates New York and the rats living in it to the point with fantastic attention to detail, and most of the scenes in the film are shot and constructed simply perfectly. This includes the short but brutally effective opening scene, which stands as one of the more memorable openings I've seen in a while. Actually any time there's gunplay or action, even if there isn't that much overall, it's stunning. Particularily, at the end there's a police raid scene that stands as the "holyyyy crap" sequence of the film. Going from a hallway to a heroine preparing apartment, and without revealing anything more, it's incredible, simply incredible. Remember when people were going nuts over the tracking shot gimmick in Children of Men? I felt that way about this one. If there's a god, Ridley will finally pick up his directing Oscar this year, he deserves it for this and his wide career.

American Gangster is probably one of the best cop-based films I've seen, and up there with gangster ones. It does one of the best jobs of examing the rise and fall of a crime or drug boss right from the beginning, and dives right into on the other side what it means to be a cop and to strive for something, as well as just telling an awesome and magnificently directed gangster story.

I fully expect it to hang around both my top ten list at the end of the year and currently stands in my top 3, though we'll see how the rest of the award season pans out. I'd be very surprised if this didn't get Oscar attention, even objectively it's just the kind of movie to reap them in. It came off to me as a much more "fitting" Best Picture winner than The Departed actually, though this won't win just because of that movie, unfortunately.

A+

WOW

AMAZING; TOP 10 ALL TIME.

This moviecouldnt not have been mroe GANGSTA; Denzel is god again.

A+

You should all be ashamed for downloading this one

In the vein of Blow, but not quite that good.

B+/A-

Somewhere around there, will require a second viewing to tell how much I really enjoyed it. Stellar performances all around.

A+

Great gangster film.

Fantastic, gripping film. Probably the best movie of the year so far, besides RATATOUILLE. One of the best crime films I have ever seen- both the gangster lifestyle and the investigation into Frank Lucas's criminal enterpise are equally fascinating. I was never, ever bored- the pacing is equisitely perfect. The acting and dialogue is magnificent all around. Denzel Washington gives an excellent performance that pretty much guarantees an Oscar nomination. Russell Crowe is very good also. There are so many great character actors in this film! Joe Morton, Ted Levine, JOSH FUCKING BROLIN- they're all here and they're all soooo gooooood. Ridley Scott directs masterfully- the attention to detail is absolutely astounding and meticulous. The set design is gorgeous and splendid. The shootout towards the end is badass. The movie ends on the perfect note also. See it! A

After seeing the film again, I think I liked it even more. Best film of the year. I'm not one to use this term often, but I really truly believe American Gangster is a masterpiece.

I haven't been this excited for a director's cut for a long time. For a 2 hour 40 minute film, it's shocking to say they could've added more, but it's true. Particularily in the 3rd act when things start going down for Frank, and things like the 4 non-Chiwetal Ejifor brothers, who didn't get much development. Cuba's Nicky Barnes too, though I'd almost rather not, on second viewing that scene was by far the worst in the film. Maybe the only scene in the entire piece that doesn't work, to be honest. Ridley is shockingily efficient at making everything matter here, it doesn't miss a beat.

I loved every minute of it. I felt fully immersed in the gritty streets of Harlem. Once again, Russell Crowe shows that he is by far one of the greatest actors living, (Denzel wasn't bad either) .

The movie is just so damn intelligent. The storyline is believable, and the characters are likable. My only problem is the scene where he caps some guy in broad daylight and then goes back to lunch. WTF

A-

I know, but Lucas himself actually confirmed that's how it happened to the point. Link is floating around in imdb boards, too lazy to scoop it up.

Gangster. An excellent modern gangster film, something we don't see often. Denzel goes to work in the role of Frank Lucas, giving one of the best performances of the year. Russell Crowe was also quite excellent but easily overshadowed by Washington for me. The two actors, though on screen together for a short period of time, have great chemistry. Major props to Ridley Scott for creating such a masterful film, with some seriously jaw-breaking scenes (like the raid in the end). One of the best gangster films of all-time, hands down.

A

Flawed, but taut and compelling. The performances from Denzel and Crowe are simply excellent. The reliable supporting cast, including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Josh Brolin, Carla Gugino and Ruby Dee, is also impressive. Ridley Scott's direction and Steve Zaillian's screenplay are also effective. The main problem with American Gangster is its pacing. While it's a very solid movie as it is, I feel like it could've been great with about 10-15 minutes shaved off the running time and more solid pacing in the middle of the film. Despite this, however, it is a very solid entry into the holiday season sweepstakes, and a film well-worth seeing. B+

B+

I'd agree, except I was much more impressed by Crowe in 3:10 to Yuma over this. To me the character was essentially a less compelling Serpico. While American Gangster is very polished, I thought it was less than the sum of it's parts. It just never really sucked me in, like a show rather than a genuine experience.

Quite agree. I found myself not able to pin down exactly where I felt wrong, but I just couldn't give it more than a B+. Saying it felt like a show instead of an experience is exactly what I was looking for.

Thats how I felt about it too, my real problem I think is the amount of time given to each characters introduction. Scott's borders on unnecesary if the movie is really supposed to be Frank Lucas' story.
B+

Decent police/mob procedural. Yeah, it's been done a million times before, but at least this one has real high grade art direction...

GOOD.

little slow at times but still a very good film

A-

I liked it quite a bit. Can even make you think. I liked the part when Frank Lucas left that meeting and walked into the car saying "they work for me now." Above the mafia at that point. What was interesting was that it really was inevitable that he would be above the mafia from the time he secured his supply of higher quality at a lower cost. They were working for him at the time; they just didn't know it yet. They could even have killed him, but nothing would have changed so long as that supply existed. In fact he practically already ruled the drug trade from the time he thought of the idea while watching TV. You just can't get around that one basic thing.

Anyway,

7.7/10

A-

A very good film. I didn't find it phenomenal, but it was very entertaining, thrilling and well-written. The performances were also great, especially the Oscar-worthy turns from Denzel Washington and Ruby Dee. There was definitely a problem with the pacing, however. At times it moves way too slow and it runs a little long by the end. However, I'd still definitely recommend it.

B+

I'm with Libs/MovieDude/Xia, though I'd give it about ***.5, mainly because there's no genuine flaw, just a lack of something truly amazing. The final 30 minutes were pretty excellent though, which I didn't expect.

Its no Departed or film of the generation, but its definitely in the top ten or even five for the year. The acting is great, the story is well told, and I never felt bored throughout. I felt the pacing was fine and both the criminal and cop were well developed followed by a great supporting cast, man I couldnt believe the cameos throughout.

Solid A

About a week later, I think I've decided that this would've been more interesting if Ridley Scott hadn't been trying so hard to make an award winner. Scorsese finally hit it big when he just went for entertainment rather than self importance and prestige. Maybe if it wasn't trying so hard for perfect realism and historical fact/production design...